Euro NCAP – the European New Car Assessment Programme – was created twenty years ago this month to test the road safety of vehicles using a five-star rating system.

Crash-test dummies are placed in replications of potential real-life scenarios with recordings taken on the severity of their impact.

The reports from the tests include comments on the damage caused by collisions to the front and side of the vehicle, as well as a separate recording on child occupants involved in an impact and also one on pedestrians.

While all were still considered to be road legal, these are the five popular cars from the 1990s that NCAP deemed most unsafe.

Fiat Punto

2 stars out of 5

In the Front Impact Test, the dashboard came slightly detached and the airbag was deemed insufficient to cover drivers of different sizes.

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Impacts from the front and side caused 'excessive intrusions' into the footwell and moderate ones on the dashboard.

While protection tests for neck, chest, ankles and feet were good, the upper legs impacted against the fuse box protector causing that area to be deemed 'weak'.

Nissan Micra

2 stars out of 5

In the crash test forward and lateral movements during impacts were deemed 'poor' for child passengers.

Frontal impact caused the driver's knee to come in contact with the steering column and afterwards, tools were required to open the driver's door after extreme physical force was not enough.

Renault Clio

2 stars out of 5

During the Front Impact Test, the test dummies head slid off the airbag coming into contact with the windscreen pillar.

Leg protection was also downgraded to poor due to the large number of rigid structures that could potentially place pressure on knees in the event of a crash.

And finally...

Rover 100

1 star out of 5

This is it. The worst crash test of the 1990s.

Like the Nissan Micra, frontal impact created enough damage that tools were required to open the driver's side door. Chest and abdomen protection from side impact was considered poor and insufficient restraint caused excessive frontal and lateral movements for child occupants.

It must be made clear that a two-star rating in 1997 differs to a two-star rating in 2017. This is as a result of the new rating scheme that was introduced in 2009. The new rating system is based around four components: 'adult occupant', 'child occupant', 'pedestrian' and 'safety assist' which includes preventative measure like lane and speed assistance and seatbelt reminders.

In brief, NCAP's rating system is based on a series of tests that recreate real-world situations that could result in injury or accidental death to road users.